High levels of unemployment and poverty have contributed to the North East having the highest rate of suicides in the country, an MP has warned.

Kevan Jones, MP for North Durham, said mental health should be given a higher priority, and criticised funding cuts to mental health services.

But he said it was wrong to deny there was a link between suicide and the state of the economy.

Mr Jones was speaking in the House of Commons as MPs discussed calls for mental health to be given the same priority as physical health.

In 2012, he revealed that he had suffered from depression in the past, making him one of the first politicians to talk about suffering from a mental health problem. In recent years, others have come forward to speak about their own experiences.

Around one in four people have a mental health issue each year.

Mr Jones highlighted the high suicide rate in the North East, where figures published earlier this year showed there were 13.8 deaths by suicide for every 100,000 people over 12 months.

The national figure was 11.9 deaths by suicide per 100,000. The region with the lowest figure was London, where the rate was 7.9 per 100,000 people.

Mental health issues

One in Four

People have a mental health issue each year

The MP said: “My own region in the North East has an unenviable suicide record. We have the highest rate of suicides in the country.”

He warned: “Such rates are related to the economic situation.

“People may try to gloss over that fact, but economic situations do affect people’s lives.”

Mr Jones also pointed out that many of those committing suicide were men.

“We must also address the fact that 78% of that figure are men.

“Men are terrible at talking about mental health.

“So, yes, progress is being made, but we do need to have mental health and mental well-being running through all Government policies.”

Mr Jones called for a major campaign to cut the suicide rate and encourage people to seek help if they had a mental health issue.

He said: “In this country, three times more people commit suicide every year than are killed on the roads.

“We had a great road safety campaign, which addressed the problem of people being killed on our roads. We need the same campaigning zeal to attack the suicide rates in this country.”

But he accused the Government of cutting funding for mental health, saying: “The Chancellor announced an investment of £600 million in talking therapies, which I welcome, but that is set against a cut of almost 8.5% in the previous Parliament. The money will do nothing to replace the beds that have been lost in psychiatric wards.”

Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne (Image: Ben Pruchnie/Getty Images)

Despite the Government’s Northern Powerhouse policy and pledges to ensure the economy of the north grows at least as quickly as the economy in the south of England, the North East stilll lags behind the rest of the country in a range of economic indicators.

The region has the highest unemployment rate in the UK, at 8.6%.

And it is the only part of England where unemployment is rising, according to the official statistics.

According to the Office for National Statistics show that “gross value added”, the official measure of economic output, is £23,394 per person in in the UK - but in the North East it is £17,381, the lowest figure for any part of the country including the regions of England, Wales, Scotland or Northern ireland.

At the same time, local authorities say that they are struggling to maintain vital services including adult social care as a result of government cuts.

Alistair Burt, the Minister for Community and Social Care, agreed the Government had to do more to cut the suicide rate.

He said: “I take that issue extremely seriously, and I think that we have not done nearly enough to deal with it.”

He added: “I want our ambition and our vision, building on all that has been done so far, to be recognised as providing the world’s best mental health services, and I want us to be really close to that by 2020.

“I want to see the inevitability of suicide to be challenged and rejected as we do more to combat the scourge of too many suicides.

“I want a national campaign against loneliness and isolation, and the mobilisation of the millions in clubs, faith groups and associations around the country, to bring more people in, and to let no one go.”